The Battles of the Book
by The Little House Scribe
Summary: Hermione Granger is the foremost defender of literature in Hogwarts School, but what will happen when she finds herself confronted by Ginny Weasley, fuelled with a burning vendetta against an innocent little diary? Will Hermione be able to defend the defenceless, or will Ginny succed in her destructive quest?
1. Chapter 1

It was a blustery, cold December morning, and cloaked up, Harry, Ron and Hermione were returning from visiting Hagrid, their footprints visible in the thick coating of snow.

As it was, they came upon Ginny, whistling cheerfully as she tended to a cauldron.

"Hello Ginny. Whatchu doin?" Ron asked.

"Well brother of mine, I am doing many things, but it comes down to one thing: KABOOOM!"

Ron grinned and slapped Ginny's back. "Well then sis, carry on."

Hermione frowned at the Weasleys. "I'm not sure if it is even proper to be using a cauldron out here."

Harry thought that was a bit rich coming from Hermione, as they were currently brewing a dangerous and illegal potion at that very moment.

"Yeah, actually Hermione, I got permission from Professor Lockhart."

Ron's grin turned sour. "Don't tell me you begged for his autograph too…"

"Actually, it was after Defence against the Dark Arts – or Offense against Legitimate Teaching, as I like to call it."

Harry managed to stifle a laugh into his hand because Hermione was swelling up in indignant outrage.

"I was outside the classroom, deep in inner reflection, holding a piece of parchment, when suddenly it was taken from me and desecrated in the Professor's lilac hand. I then realised that I had a free pass to do…many things in the school, so who am I to look a gift horse in the mouth?"

Ginny held out the parchment with Lockhart's signature. Hermione tried to snatch it from her grasp. "That's irresponsible."

"Now there's no need to get like that, Hermione." Ginny said, dancing out of the way. "I'm sure Lockhart would give his favourite student a thousand autographs if you just cleared your throat at him."

Harry and Ron burst out laughing, but Hermione silenced them with a dangerous glare.

"I know this is hard for you, Hermione – what, with your bounteous brain," Ginny picked up a loose handful of snow and rubbed against the back of Hermione's neck, causing her to shriek and spin around, "but lighten up."

Hermione smiled, scooped up some snow, and lobbed it at Ginny. Soon all four of them were pelting each other with snowballs in a free-for-all – which was only stopped when Fred and George arrived, laden with a large crate.

"Our part of the bargain, sis."

"My part has already been completed. Did you have any trouble?"

"Ah, but Gin-gins, we are trouble." The twins grinned at her, then waved at Harry, Ron and Hermione, and departed.

Ginny turned to Harry, Ron and Hermione. "Best stand back guys, this could get hairy."

Harry, ever the concerned citizen, asked. "What about you?"

Ginny smiled enigmatically.

Crouched behind a snowbank, the three watched as Ginny put the finishing touches on her experiment. Then she proceeded to make her way over to her three friends, and flicked her wand.

It took a few seconds, in a spectacular explosion, the cauldron and all its contents soared into the air, whilst fireworks exploded in a shower of colourful sparks. When the dust had settled, the four went over to inspect the result.

"Whoa." Ron began. "You're the coolest sister ever!"

"I'm your only sister." Ginny replied, but smiled anyway.

"Point proven." Ron finished triumphantly.

Pieces of Fillibuster's fireworks littered the snow in twisted, black remains. Harry considered Ginny's 'KABOOM!' experiment a complete success – but she didn't seem to feel that way – she sunk to her knees and shook her head sadly, before addressing none of them and saying: "You may have foiled me this time, but that's only going to make me more determined."

Hermione spotted a book, strangely unburnt in the ashes, and picked it up. Ginny's eyes widened. "Hermione, please, give that to me."

"You put it in there?" Hermione asked. "Why?"

"Because it is an evil, evil book."

Hermione opened the book. It was blank. "Ginny's there's nothing written in here."

"Hermione, please, give me the evil, murderous book."

Hermione blinked. "If there's anything I pride myself on, it is my knowledge of books. Books aren't evil. They may convey evil messages, but in that case, it is the writers who may be evil."

"You don't understand, Hermione. That book is evil. "

Hermione shook her head. _Some people just can't understand._

Ginny suddenly lunged at Hermione, but Hermione managed to stop Ginny by waving her wand and muttering something. Hermione then ran for the castle.

Ginny was frozen in place, and Harry worked on releasing. "Finite Incantatem."

"I'm sorry about Hermione. I think you frightened her." Ron explained. Ginny nodded, and instead of going after Hermione, ran to the edge of the Forbidden Forest, pulled a pine sapling over and catapulted herself into the distance.

"Oookay." Said Ron, watching his sister sail over his head and over the rise of the horizon. "I think she's finally lost it."


	2. Chapter 2

Using a more conventional method, Harry and Ron walked to the castle. Hermione had managed to get into the entrance hall where Ginny had caught up to her.

"Give me the book, Hermione, and no one gets hurt….I hope." Ginny trailed off uncertainly.

Before Hermione could answer, Ginny spotted an opening and lunged for the book. Hermione, though, spent many years defending her books in muggle primary school, and was not about to give up easily.

The two girls desperately wrestled around for a few seconds, until they were pulled apart.

"What are you two fighting over?" Fred asked, helping Hermione up. George went over and picked up the book and pulled it open. "An old book?"

"Well, can we help you?" Fred asked.

"That's a rhetorical question." George finished, as Hermione was about to open her mouth.

Fred and George's idea of help soon became apparent to all.

"Roll up, roll up!" Fred called out as Lee Jordan joined them. "See the girls of Gryffindor fight it out for mangy old book!"

George took up for his brothers. "Will our favourite Hogwarts heroine, Hermione Granger gain glorious triumph, or will our own sister, Ginny manage to overcome her shortcomings and be victorious?"

Ginny frowned at George's mention of her lack of vertical stature.

"And what do you want to done with this old book?" Fred asked Ginny.

"I want it annihilated." Ginny said, giving her glare'o'doom to the evil, evil book. A few nearby Ravenclaws backed away.

"I want to stop this unnecessary destruction." Hermione said, glaring over at Ginny.

"It's not unnecessary, that book is evil."

"There you go anthropomorphising the inanimate again." Hermione rolled her eyes. "Even if that book was doing anything at all, it would just be the result of some kind of spell and not its own consciousness. It's a book, therefore it is not sentient therefore it cannot be evil."

Hermione finished off her impassioned speech by staring at Ginny. "And if it's so evil, I challenge you to prove it."

"I dare not even attempt to, lest I…well, I'll just let the hand puppet illustrate this one."

Ginny pulled an old sock out of her pocket and held it to her copy of A Beginners guide to Transfiguration.

"Hello Mr Book, I hear you're quite normal and not evil." The sock puppet said.

"No more sucker!" The book replied as little white threads shot out of the book and turned the sock puppet into a marionette.

Hermione scoffed and crossed her arms. "Anthropomorphising with the added twist of supernatural possession. Preposterous."

Harry decided that with Fred and George treating the matter as some kind of joke, he would have to step in and try and diffuse the situation.

"Umm, Ginny, do you think we could…cut a deal?" Harry asked.

"What do you have in mind?"

"You give up on your destructive quest." Hermione looked on approvingly. "And I'll give you my complete collection of Gilderoy Lockhart's work to do with as you will."

Hermione looked scandalised. Ginny shook her head ruefully. "As appealing as that sounds, Harry, I'm afraid I cannot accept such a trade."

Ginny took George completely off guard, snatching the book out of his hand and darting down into the dungeons, shouting "Tom Riddle must die!"

"Well," Ron said. "That escalated quickly."


	3. Chapter 3

Ron figured it would be best to let Ginny cool off for a few minutes before trying to logically reason with her, but he wasn't confident he could, Hermione, the most logical person in the school, had hit a brick wall of crazy when she had tried to. After about five minutes, they set off. They soon found Ginny again, but there was something different.

"_Hey Riddle-de-dee, a student's life for me;_

_With a cauldrons boiling and a wands waving _

_And a feasts a-having and a Whomping Willow tree, _

_Hey Riddle-de-dee, a student's life for me!"_

"Are you feeling alright?" Ron asked, with an extremely perplexed expression.

Ginny looked equally confused. "Of course I am. Why wouldn't I be?"

"Five minutes ago you wanted to destroy a diary and kill someone called Tom Riddle." Harry reminded her.

"I'm sure you're mistaken, young Master Potter; murder is wrong and I'm sure I would not be party to it. Besides, this Tom Riddle fellow sounds like a very decent chap – not that I know anything about him. Now I'm off to the bathroom –NO! NO! Not the bathroom! The library. Yes. I'm off to the library." And Ginny left, leaving everyone even more confused.

Ron, Harry and Hermione bumped into Percy on the way back.

"Hey, Perce. Have you noticed anything….Well, anything strange with Ginny recently?" Ron asked.

"Oh, gee Ron. I'm surprised you noticed. I wonder why?" Percy answered with an unusually biting, sneering tone. "I didn't think you even remembered we had a sister."

"What's that supposed to mean!" Ron demanded, his temper taking over.

"You gallivanting around the place; always getting into trouble. You don't care about Ginny's feelings at all!"

"Of course I do!" Harry and Hermione began backing away. "I'm trying to find out what's bothering her!" Ron calmed down. "And I do it because I care, not because of some stupid badge you want."

Percy bristled but said nothing; it was clear that Ron had hit a sore spot. Fuming, the Prefect went on his way.

Ron glared at his back. "See you guys, I'm going to Fred and George."

Harry and Hermione went over to the library. "Who do you reckon Tom Riddle is?" Hermione wondered.

"Probably some Slytherin Ginny has an animosity with. I seem to remember him vaguely."

"Makes sense." Hermione replied, and then returned to her studies.

That evening, as they were sitting down to dinner, Ginny dropped into the empty seat next to Harry. She didn't even seem to notice anyone, and she looked absolutely exhausted.

"Evening Ginny. Long day?" Harry asked.

Ginny gave Harry a look that told him everything he needed to know.

"Gin, you look worse than Hermione before end of year exams." George observed. "Have you been getting your sleep?" Fred added, concernedly.

Ginny nodded as she played with her potatoes.

Harry was confounded. Ginny seemed to be going through severe mood swings. Maybe it was a girl thing – and the stress of the opening of the Chamber of Secrets couldn't be helping.

"I'm going to bed. Night guys." Ginny said. Her brothers watched her leave the Great Hall, and then Ron seized her unfinished plate.

"Strange girl, that Ginny." Ron observed through potato crusted teeth.

"Not as strange as present company." An offended Fred countered.

A long sleep didn't seem to have helped Ginny; in fact, she looked even worse. Hermione found her in the library at a surprisingly early hour.

"Drowning – failure. Explosive burning –failure. Oh, good morning Hermione. Erm…Sorry about yesterday."

"Me too. What are you doing?"

"What's the most destructive muggle technology?"

"Nuclear weapons."

"What?"

"Do you know what a bomb is?"

"Sure. They're explosive ordinances that can blow-up buildings."

"Nuclear weapons can flatten cities."

Ginny dropped out of her seat. "Have they ever been used?"

"Twice. The Americans dropped them on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to force Japan to surrender in World War II. Of course, the power is tiny compared with what they can unleash now."

"So, if one was set off here?"

"The whole of Hogwarts, the Forbidden forest, the village of Hogsmeade should be flattened."

"Should be?"

"Well, there is an unknown factor. I don't know what would happen in a magical situation. A simple shield charm might protect one from the explosion."

"Seems like a lot of study is needed. Thanks Hermione."


	4. Chapter 4

Ginny made the decision not to cause Nuclear Annihilation, and after checking out a book in the Muggle Literature section of library, spent her spare lunchtime walking back and forth along the corridor.

'So if the Ring was made in the fires of Mount Doom, and can only be destroyed in the fires of Mount Doom, then Mount Doom must be very powerful. I wonder…' Ginny thought to herself.

While she was pacing, a door appeared on the wall. Taken aback, Ginny gingerly opened the door, and the acrid fumes of sulphur assailed her nostrils. Peeking in further, she saw a gigantic flaming eye perched above a tower, and…Ginny could hardly believe her eyes…that had to be Mount Doom.

So what was Mount Doom doing in the room? Was this world, like the Wizarding World was to muggles, hidden to Wizards, and written about as being simply a fantasy world? Or was it a representation, manifested to answer Ginny's wishes?

Well, whatever it was, Ginny felt she had nothing to lose. She began to make her way to the mountaintop.

It was tough going, but as soon as Ginny wished that she could get there faster, she found herself inside the volcano, with lava bubbling below.

Grinning, Ginny reached into her pocket and pulled Riddle's diary out, and threw it into the lava. The whole fantasy world vanished, and a bare-room appeared in its place, the Diary undestroyed.

Ginny sighed, picked up Riddle's Diary, and left the room.

Most undesirably, Ginny soon met up with Harry and Ron, when her charming brother decided to point out:

"Gee, Ginny, you stink!"

Ginny mustered up all her courage not to vanish on the spot – if she could've in the first place, before commenting.

"Ron, you have the verbal consistency of a pendulum, swinging from the best to the worst things you could say but never saying anything in-between."

"Well, I didn't say anything about your teddy collection!" Ron countered.

"That doesn't sound abnormal." Harry pointed out.

"Wait til you hear what she named them." Ron replied.

Ginny, though, was in her own world, "You know bro, I don't know what stinks more, your communication skills or me. I do stink…" Ginny trailed off, the scent of Volcanic Vapour still wafting around her.

"How do you even get that way?" Ron called out to her as she made her way away. "Girls." Ron ended.

"All aboard the tactless express!" Ginny called back.

"Harry," Ron slapped his best friend on the back "You wouldn't understand this now, but one day you'll be delighted that Ginny isn't your sister. I, however, have to live with it." Ron sighed over-dramatically.

"You've got a real burden, Ron." Harry replied seriously. "How 'bout I swap you, Ginny for Dudley. I'll throw Uncle Vernon in for nothing."

"Oh, no, Ginny may be annoying, but she's the only sister I've got. How about Percy?"

"Hmm, I might have to throw in Aunt Petunia for that deal."

"Oh, don't trouble yourself."

When they next bumped into Ginny, she'd been scrub-a-dubbed.

"Ginny, you smell much better!" Ron pointed out.

"You know Ron; I'm not sure if I feel complimented."

"C'mon Harry, corroborate me."

"Ginny, Ron wants us to work together to steal from him. I say we start with his dinner – hit him where it hurts."

"That's not what corroborate means, lumphead!" said Ron, while Ginny giggled.

"Yeah, I know. Ginny, you smell like clean laundry."

"I think I've accidently stumbled into Complimenters Anonymous." Ginny replied. "Harry, you look as tall as…as tall as…It'll come to me. Ron, you look just like yourself today – sorry, that was the best I could do." Ginny said, dodging Ron's half-hearted swipe.

"Has anyone seen Hermione?" Ginny asked, as the three turned serious.

"Not since before lunch." Harry replied.

"Hmm." Ginny mused, frowning."

"You two still at it?" Ron asked.

"No, we made up."

"Whatever did happen to that silly old book anyway?"

"Nothing."

"Good, no point in losing a friend over something silly as that." Ron seemed satisfied and strode away; however Harry's curiosity was not yet satiated.

"So, Ginny, tell me, what did you name your bears?"


End file.
